Previously known toe set devices for vehicles have typically been adapted for use with a single type of tie rod assembly. One such device has been guided mechanically into engagement with the tie rod and shifted laterally along the tie rod to engage one side of a double sided socket to engage and loosen a tie rod fastening jam nut when the tie rod device is rotated and then shifted laterally in the opposite direction to engage flat surfaces formed on the tie rod to rotate and adjust the tie rod position. The device is then shifted laterally back to the jam nut followed by retightening of that jam nut to hold the tie rod in the adjusted position.
However, the tie rod assemblies on modern vehicles are not all formed similarly, some having much more confined space on the tie rod for adjusting the tie rod position. Further, various tie rod assemblies include larger diameter flanges or rings adjacent the adjusting flats and/or tie rod fastening jam nut which prevent or make it difficult to shift the tie rod adjustment device laterally into engagement with one or the other of these features. Therefore, automatic engagement of a tie rod adjusting device with the various tie rod assemblies on modern vehicles has become increasingly difficult thereby making proper adjustment of the toe set on such vehicles more difficult.
A need has arisen, therefore, for a tie rod adjustment device and method that can accommodate varying types of tie rod assemblies having differing sizes of tie rod adjustment areas and tie rod fasteners with various spacing therebetween, especially on an automated basis.